Design Trends for 2013

The following is a guest blog by Anthony Davis of iDesign Inc., one of our awesome partners. (www.meetidesign.com)

Wow, what a change the last couple of years have been in web design. Did anyone have an iPad two-three years ago? Hardly. Smart phone? Nope, Blackberry was king. That is not smart these days. In fact, many sources will tell you that up to 25% of web users browse the web primarily on their phones. How has that impacted web design? More importantly, how does that impact your customers’ and potential customers’ opinion of your website?

Here are a few trends to incorporate in 2013:

Mobile/Responsive: It’s everything now. Mobile encompasses smart phones and all tablet devices now. You have probably heard of responsive design. This is still a new trend, taking off in 2012, and is almost essential now. It is STILL VALUABLE to have a mobile version of your site, a true mobile/phone version. Yes, I said it. Why? A true mobile version is still a perfected experience for the phone user. If the budget is there, do it. If it’s not, a good responsive layout will be fine. Responsive is exactly as it sounds, the site responds and shrinks into a mobile view when you are under a certain width. But a true mobile site feels like a smart phone app. It is perfected; user experience is more thought out. BUT it takes more time.
So, for 2013, be sure you are at least responsive, so your site will look great on tablet and phone.

Great mobile websites should feel a lot like apps.

Infographics: Still a hot trend, infographics have taken over for stock photos in a big way. Still needed at times, the stock photo just became stale. Sometimes you have that health care client though, you just gotta use them. But for interesting, more innovative sites, infographics are really great. Here is a site that does a great job at utilizing them: http://designedtomove.org/

Single Page Design: Another trend that has continued to build, single page web design has become an awesome way to build smaller content sites. You can build them responsive, they are so easy on the user experience. One of our examples is the United Methodist Student Movement (www.umsm.org), and a great site out there is a company called Simple (www.simple.com).

Here is a great article for further trends in 2013. Lots of fun ways you can build your site to modern standards, and provide the user with a great experience.